Your face gives away hints to your sexual strategy

International

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Published: Wednesday, April 9, 2008, 19:07 [IST]

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Washington, Apr 9 (UNI) Your face exuberates subtle hints about your sexual preferences which the opposite sex perceives to make a better partner choice, according to a new reserach which gives deeper insight into mate attrcativeness.

The research published in Evolution and Human Behaviour is an insight into how people can use their perceptions to make more informed partner selection depending on the type of relationship they are pursuing and is a significant step in further understanding the evolution of partner choice, according to the research team from Durham, St Andrews and Aberdeen Universities.

The men who were most open to casual sex were generally perceived as being more masculine-looking, with facial features including squarer jaws, larger nose and smaller eyes, confirming that women see masculine men as more likely to be unfaithful and as worse parents.

It also showed that women who were open to short-term sexual relationships were usually seen by others as more attractive, though not knowing why. Contrary to this, women are usually all over men who are potential long-term relationship material.

Also, young men and women look for complete opposites when it comes to relationships with the other sex.

Men generally prefer women who they perceive are open to short-term sexual relationships while women are usually interested in men who appear to have potential to be long-term relationship material.

Participants in the research were asked to judge the attractiveness and attitudes to sex of the opposite sex from the facial photographs of people in their early 20s. These perceptual judgements were then compared with the actual attitudes and behaviours of the individuals in the photographs, which had been determined through a detailed questionnaire.

It was found that the 72 per cent of the 153 participants (both sexes) could generally correctly judge from photographs the potential suitor for short-term relationship.

Lead author Dr Lynda Boothroyd from Durham University's Psychology Department said: ''Our results suggest that although some people can judge the sexual strategy of others simply from looking at their face ...'' ''This shows that these initial impressions may be part of how we assess potential mates -- or potential rivals -- when we first meet them. These will then give way over time to more in depth knowledge of that person, as you get to know them better, and may change with age''.